The dictionary tells us that sympathy is a felling of pity or sorrow for someone else’s misfortune. And here’s how it’s used in quotes by the masters of literature.

My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy, and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without torture such as you cannot even imagine. ~ Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

I don’t know if it be a peculiarity in me, but I am seldom otherwise than happy while watching in the chamber of death, should no frenzied or despairing mourner share the duty with me. I see a repose that neither earth nor hell can break; and I feel an assurance of the endless and shadowless hereafter – the Eternity they have entered – where life is boundless in its duration, and love in its sympathy, and joy in its fulness. ~ Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

“Oh! I have a heart to be stabbed in or shot in, I have no doubt,” said Estella, “and of course if it ceased to beat I should cease to be. But you know what I mean. I have no softness there, no—sympathy—sentiment—nonsense.” ~ Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

He spoke wistfully of a sudden leaving, a breaking of old ties, a flight into a strange world, ending in this dreary valley, and Ettie listened, her dark eyes gleaming with pity and with sympathy – those two qualities which may turn so rapidly and so naturally to love. ~ The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

1 – Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was born on November 30th 1835. He died on April 21st, 1910.

2 – For a time he worked as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River. He also worked as a newspaper journalist and a miner before he turned to writing fiction.

3 – While he was well paid as a writer, he was plagued with financial problems. One of his biggest problems was bad investments. He lost a lot of money with his investment in Paige Compositor, a mechanical typesetter. Twain eventually declared bankruptcy. However later he paid back all of his creditors.

4 – He married Olivia Landon in 1870. They remained together until her death in 1904. They had four children.

5 – Twain was born shortly after a visit by Halley’s Comet. He told people that he would “go out with it” as well. Here’s a quote from Twain in 1909.

I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don’t go out with Halley’s Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: ‘Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together’.

It has been said that the love of money is the root of all evil. The want of money is so quite as truly. ~ Erewhon by Samuel Butler

I have learned one thing, my friend ‘one can get nearly everything with money. It is the hidden machinery which makes the world of success go round. With brains, you say? Yes, money and brains, but without the money brains seldom win alone. ~ No Defense by Gilbert Parker

Fans of H. P. Lovecraft take note. Today TeeFury has two shirts inspired by “The Call of Cthulhu”. Creepy fun!Click here to order

I shall never sleep calmly again when I think of the horrors that lurk ceaselessly behind life in time and in space, and of those unhallowed blasphemies from elder stars which dream beneath the sea, known and favoured by a nightmare cult ready and eager to loose them upon the world whenever another earthquake shall heave their monstrous stone city again to the sun and air. ~ The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft

They’ve changed things at TeeFury so you may be able to pick these designs up later (check out the gallery), but there are no guarantees and the price goes up.

I’ve ordered from this company and been pleased with the merchandise. The only thing to watch for is the sizing on the women’s shirts. Read the size chart before you order.

Fans of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings take note. Today TeeFury has not one, but two shirts inspired by the work of J.R.R. Tolkien. If you like the shirts be sure to order today (1/6/2015) to get the best price.

They’ve changed things at TeeFury so you may be able to pick them up later (check out the gallery), but there are no guarantees and the price goes up.

I’ve ordered from this company and been pleased with the merchandise. The only thing to watch for is the sizing on the women’s shirts. Read the size chart before you order.

Happy New Year! I thought I’d start out 2015 by adding some quotes to the site. Here are some of my favorites from the new quotes, but if you’d like to see all of them, visit the new quotes page. Remember that if you have a quote that you’d like to see added to the site, you can contribute a quote.

“Many are the strange chances of the world,” said Mithrandir, “and help oft shall come from the hands of the weak when the Wise falter.” ~ The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien

Why do they always teach us that it’s easy and evil to do what we want and that we need discipline to restrain ourselves? It’s the hardest thing in the world—to do what we want. And it takes the greatest kind of courage. I mean, what we really want. ~ The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

He seemed a kind of cannon loaded to the muzzle with facts, and prepared to blow them clean out of the regions of childhood at one discharge. He seemed a galvanizing apparatus, too, charged with a grim mechanical substitute for the tender young imaginations that were to be stormed away. ~ Hard Times by Charles Dickens